Latest revision as of 20:53, 16 September 2008

The majority of cell phone owners purchase their phones from a wireless carrier. These carrier provided phones are often modified in such a way that carriers can exercise maximum control over certain built-in features. As a result, carrier provided phones may have some killer features completely removed or in the best case scenario, disabled till the user pays a fee to the carrier. This is known as "crippling" a phone.

Fortunately, phone buyers have other options. Crippled phones can be avoided by purchasing a factory unlocked phone such as the Openmoko phone. Factory unlocked phones are purchased directly from the manufacturers (or retailers) with no modifications or restrictions.

This page contains examples of "crippled" features on carrier provided phones listed by members of the Openmoko community.

Manufacturer

Model

Operating System

Operator

Locked feature

Comments

Many

Many

Many

GSM Phones

Handset will only operate with SIM registered to a particular operator

GSM carriers often provide unlocking codes, but may charge a small fee.

CDMA phones (US only) generally require a lot more effort since the hardware often has to be hacked.

Many

Many

Non-smart phones

Many

A user cannot develop an application for the phone even if he has the time and skills, or the applications the user can develop are limited in features available to them, speed and visual appearance (e.g. J2ME)

End users of smart phones can and do develop their own programs.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Installable applications that are not “blessed” (signed) by the handset manufacturer are limited in features available to them or trigger annoying security warnings even though you totally trust them

Smart phone users can develop their own programs.

Many

Many

Non-smart phones

Many

New models of the handset may have the same hardware but improved software. However, existing users cannot upgrade their firmware.

Manufacturer sold its model claiming VoIP, but the software wasn't present on the phone to actually use it for, say SIP calls. The following release of the phone (N80ie) included the feature in the software, while the hardware was identical to the former release (N80).

The original N80 had a built in VOIP client. However, SIP was not enabled until the N80ie. Nokia provided a firmware to upgrade the original N80 to N80ie.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Synchronization, update or other features involving the use of a desktop computer require a certain operating system on the computer, usually MS Windows

Many

Many

Many

Many

Music and video can only be added to the media player “library” using certain “blessed” methods, such as downloading them from a preferred online store, or using a certain desktop media library software (e.g. iTunes)

Many

Many

Many

Many

An arbitrary audio file cannot be installed as a ringtone. Some operators even charge a fee to install the music you already bought as a ringtone

O2

Orbit

Windows Mobile 6

O2

Handset includes GPS but I bought the cheaper tariff and this does not come with gps software. GPS capability has been locked by the operator and i cannot use it even with free applications like Google Maps for mobile which can use cell tower interpolation or GPS to provide location info

O2 orbit = HTC Touch (i think)

Many

Many

Many

Many

Operators do not allow an Internet Messaging application to be installed that could use GPRS (for those with cheap data plans) or WiFi to communicate with others.

This is presumably because they are scared of losing SMS revenue.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Operators do not allow VoIP applications to be installed because it's a competition to their primary business

Views

Personal tools

The majority of cell phone owners purchase their phones from a wireless carrier. These carrier provided phones are often modified in such a way that carriers can exercise maximum control over certain built-in features. As a result, carrier provided phones may have some killer features completely removed or in the best case scenario, disabled till the user pays a fee to the carrier. This is known as "crippling" a phone.

Fortunately, phone buyers have other options. Crippled phones can be avoided by purchasing a factory unlocked phone such as the Openmoko phone. Factory unlocked phones are purchased directly from the manufacturers (or retailers) with no modifications or restrictions.

This page contains examples of "crippled" features on carrier provided phones listed by members of the Openmoko community.

Manufacturer

Model

Operating System

Operator

Locked feature

Comments

Many

Many

Many

GSM Phones

Handset will only operate with SIM registered to a particular operator

GSM carriers often provide unlocking codes, but may charge a small fee.

CDMA phones (US only) generally require a lot more effort since the hardware often has to be hacked.

Many

Many

Non-smart phones

Many

A user cannot develop an application for the phone even if he has the time and skills, or the applications the user can develop are limited in features available to them, speed and visual appearance (e.g. J2ME)

End users of smart phones can and do develop their own programs.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Installable applications that are not “blessed” (signed) by the handset manufacturer are limited in features available to them or trigger annoying security warnings even though you totally trust them

Smart phone users can develop their own programs.

Many

Many

Non-smart phones

Many

New models of the handset may have the same hardware but improved software. However, existing users cannot upgrade their firmware.

Manufacturer sold its model claiming VoIP, but the software wasn't present on the phone to actually use it for, say SIP calls. The following release of the phone (N80ie) included the feature in the software, while the hardware was identical to the former release (N80).

The original N80 had a built in VOIP client. However, SIP was not enabled until the N80ie. Nokia provided a firmware to upgrade the original N80 to N80ie.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Synchronization, update or other features involving the use of a desktop computer require a certain operating system on the computer, usually MS Windows

Many

Many

Many

Many

Music and video can only be added to the media player “library” using certain “blessed” methods, such as downloading them from a preferred online store, or using a certain desktop media library software (e.g. iTunes)

Many

Many

Many

Many

An arbitrary audio file cannot be installed as a ringtone. Some operators even charge a fee to install the music you already bought as a ringtone

O2

Orbit

Windows Mobile 6

O2

Handset includes GPS but I bought the cheaper tariff and this does not come with gps software. GPS capability has been locked by the operator and i cannot use it even with free applications like Google Maps for mobile which can use cell tower interpolation or GPS to provide location info

O2 orbit = HTC Touch (i think)

Many

Many

Many

Many

Operators do not allow an Internet Messaging application to be installed that could use GPRS (for those with cheap data plans) or WiFi to communicate with others.

This is presumably because they are scared of losing SMS revenue.

Many

Many

Many

Many

Operators do not allow VoIP applications to be installed because it's a competition to their primary business